Remington 870 Cleaning and Disassembly instructions (May also work for other pump and semi-auto shotguns)
Hello all, RON L here
Thought I'd follow up the Cosmoline cleaning post with yet anther in the series on dis-assembly and cleaning of the REM-870 shotgun, the dis-assembly might be specific , however the cleaning and inspection processes will be similar on many other pump shotguns and even some semi-auto designs!
Fist and FORMOST SAFETY!
Get the shotgun out and In a safe area check the action and magazine tube for shells, treat all firearms as thought they were loaded and even if you think it's empty cycle the action and see if the barrel, action and magazine tube are all empty, pick up and remove al lives and spent shells till after we are done with our work, OK?
Now, we are sure it's empty apply the safety mounted on the trigger guard on other shotguns it might be same location or on the top of the weapon near the stock?
If all is well, lets continue:
1. Use a Pin Punch or a screwdriver of similar size to remove the 2 Pins holding the Trigger mechanism to the receiver, once freed, put the Pins and trigger group off to the side. Now using a soft brush or cloth saturated in solvent, or spray the trigger group with solvent softly scrub the action parts being careful not to dislocate or dame parts as we clean, if a Alloy or steel trigger group, feel free to use carb cleaner or Brake cleaner be mindful of any Plastic parts as those caustic solvents might damage them, ditto the stock and forend? If Plastic Trigger group assembly use a normal gun solvent and use caution as you apply it! Remove the Pins and whipe clean and scrub with brush if needed? Set those cleaned items off to the side after a light application of oil.
2. Unscrew the magazine Tube nut, use a padded set of Channel Locks or Vice grips if the Nut is stuck or really tight, mindfull removal of the nut will prevent damage to the tube of the shotgun which is thin and easily twisted or dinged or dented!!!!! Once off, use a Brush and cloth to scrub the nut internall and inspect the threads of both that and the Tube where it screws on! Set off to the side!
3. Pulling the Forend (PUMP) slightly to the rear rotate the barrel assembly so it will unlock from the Receiver and bolt and remove it being careful of the exposed magazne tube threads! Lay the barrel assembly off to the side, as well the receiver being careful not to drop the bolt out of the action.
4. Now take a Barrel Brush 12 Ga or what ever gage your weapon is in and clean the Bore I like to do the receiver end of the barrel first then reverse then to the barrel end, but as long as it's clean, who cares? Use a rag soaked in solvent to clean the external area's of the barrel and once all crud and stuff is done look for damage, and wear and note it's location till later! Once clean and inspected lightly oil and set off to the side!
5. Carefully side the Forend, with bolt atop the rails and remove the bolt and set to the side! Once clear, use a Solvent soaked rag and Brush to toughly clean the bolt, Bolt face and bolt , some parts will be loose don't panic just keep them all together as 1 assembly! Once all clean and clean, lightly oil and set aside. Look a the Bolt Face, look for signs of Putting, Broken Firing Pin, loose parts and other damage obvious to the human eye! If none noted proceed, if some is note jot it down on a pad of paper!
6. Next we need to remove the Forend and ralils as we did on the Bolt disassembly and we need to toughly scrub out the Receiver internals, use a good stiff Brush a lot of Solvent and yea once again Carb or Brake cleaner clean the Extractors those are the small ends of the Rails that ya had to squeeze to get the Bolt off
6. (CONT) the rails and make sure you flush and scrub all the crap and un-burned power residue out of there! This is the Most ignored area of most shotguns, Pump and sometimes worse on a semi auto? Once it's also cleaned and lightly piled do a quick and dirty visual inspection, if any defects note jot them down.
If al that was ok, Now it's time to re-assemble the shotgun! Take the receiver in your left or right hand and pick up the Forend assembly and slide over the shell tube and slowly squeeze the extractor ringers till it starts to enter the receiver, then place the complete bolt assembly so it sits in the gloves and is sort of held in place by the slots on the rails! Next, slide the forend al the way in, so that the bolt cycles in and out of the receiver, cause, till you have it all buttons up, it will be loose and parts can fall off like the bolt on your toe (Don't ask), once that's done, carefully, slide the barrel back over the shotgun shell tube till it sort of fits back into the receiver and twist it slowly till it inserts into the receiver assembly and seats! Once that's done add the Shotgun shell tube nut back on and hand tight DO NOT TIGHTEN with VICE GRIPS OR CHANNEL locks as damage to the Threads on tube or denting and twisting of the magazine tube body can happen!! A Tube assembly last I checked was like 89$ before shipping so go slow and careful OK?
Re-insert the trigger assembly and replace the pins, making sure to use the right ones for the right hole, they are not inter-changeable! Once that is done, cycle the pump and insure all slides free and easy and that you see the bolt move back and forth and the safety works , once that's done, verify once again that the weapon is unloaded and snap the trigger a few times and verify the mechanism is operable? If that's a go, Take the weapon to a safe place and re-load it if you intend to use it and if not cycle a few shells in and out of the action and verify the shells load and eject, and most important fed smoothly and easily as they did before ya took it apart? If all that works, fine, if not, dis-assemble it and re-do that! Most problem are simple errors in how the bolt is placed in receiver or the extractors are not squeezed enough to let the bolt move inside as intended?
If all that works, CONGRATS Ya did, it!!!!! But, if ya noted any problems, take it to a good gunsmith or other gun knowledgeable folks and ask them to help ya order and get parts ya need! Happy Shooting!!!
Once I get time and some camera action working I will Post Pics of step 1 to complete I appologize but things are a Bit rocky around here right now!
RON
